Changemaker Series: Nicci Arsenault

Welcome to Changemaker Stories from LOCAL, an ongoing series of personal interviews with leaders driving change across every industry and discipline. Because change shouldn’t mean going it alone.

This week, we sat down with Nicci Arsenault, a passionate people leader who’s helped shape fast-growing companies like Meta and GitHub during their early stages. Now heading up the People team at Replicate, Nicci shared insights on navigating rapid growth, embracing iteration, and how regular visits to Lake Tahoe help her stay grounded and inspired.

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I've always worked in tech—especially during those high-growth, startup phases. I started my career at Facebook (Meta still sounds weird to say), and yes, I actually joined by clicking on a Facebook ad while on Facebook. I like to joke that I fell into tech by accident, but I was always meant to be in the people space.

It all worked out—I moved to Palo Alto in 2008, and joined Facebook early 2009 when we were around 800 employees. I didn’t fully know what I was getting into, but it ended up being the best decision I could have made. The company was growing fast, and I was ready to jump in and wear any hat. They needed people like that, and I was all in.

In my five years at Facebook, we grew from around 800 to 10,000 employees—it was intense, fast-paced growth. My official role was in online sales and operations, but I found myself doing everything from interviewing to training, mentoring, and managing. It was the kind of environment where you just jumped in wherever you were needed.

After Facebook, I took about six months off to reset and reflect—it had been a wild ride. I spent that time thinking about what gave me the most energy and where I’d really thrived in my career. I realized the common thread was helping people find the intersection of what they love, what they’re passionate about, and what moves the business forward.

That’s when I knew my next role had to be on a people team. I had some connections at GitHub, which was around 200 people then. I’ve found my sweet spot is joining just a few hires in—not the first, but still early.

At the time, GitHub was building its first HR team, and it was a perfect match. I brought high-growth startup experience and an operational mindset. That mix has been a key part of how I build people teams and support growing startups.

My next couple of startups scaled quickly, like most successful ones do. I believe leadership has to be intentional about the values they want to instill and also flexible about which values they’re willing to adapt as the company grows and drives the business forward.

I’ve found that the best values and cultures come from leadership and teams willing to iterate, just like they would with a product. We're not just launching people programs, values, or systems and then forgetting about them like you might in more traditional companies. In my industry, it's all about launching and continuously adapting these programs as you go.

In the past, especially in legacy industries, leaders would launch programs because that’s what classic HR does—values, performance reviews, benefits, and so on—simply to attract a certain type of candidate. But now, the focus is on driving the business forward and showing how these initiatives unlock value. For me, it's crucial that these programs align with the company’s core values.

I’m always thinking about how to create programs that work for both office-based and distributed teams. One thing I loved at a previous startup was our quarterly all-hands, where we’d ship snack boxes with handwritten notes from executives. It might sound silly, but it was such a heartwarming experience—it made you feel like you were building a little office space at home, not just being thought of as a remote worker.

In my career, I’ve found that responsible transparency really resonates. I say "responsible" because transparency just for the sake of it isn’t always beneficial. I’ve worked with leaders who pushed for complete transparency, and while the intent was good, it often caused chaos and left people feeling unsettled.

“Own the message.”

If we mess something up, let’s address it openly—be clear about what went wrong, what we’ve learned, and how we’re going to fix it. If we didn’t hire intentionally from the start and now realize the culture isn’t where we want it to be, let’s discuss what we’re doing to correct it.

At one startup, one of our core values was "find a way," and that’s really stuck with me. I carry that mindset into my home life too, especially with my kids—it's all about saying, "We're going to get through this, let's take it one step at a time." Staying calm in the chaos, especially as a leader, can make a huge difference for the team.

It’s never too late to be new again. We’re never too old or too young—it’s always okay to start fresh and learn something new. And I always remind myself: no matter who you are or what role you're in, it takes three to six months to truly feel effective.

One of the biggest change barriers I've faced is scaling too quickly, both from a hiring and systems perspective. Everything breaks—the systems aren’t prepared, there are too many people at once, and the culture can’t keep up. If you scale too fast, it can quickly become a mess for everyone.

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. I definitely learned that at GitHub. We had to build champions within the company, because it makes the People team’s job much easier. Without trust and internal credibility, it doesn’t matter what programs we ship—they won’t stick.

When I'm new at a company, I make it a point to offer one-on-one meetings with every employee. I don’t force anyone to meet with me, as that could be intimidating, but I make sure the option is there. It’s a great way to get different perspectives.

I'm a big podcast fan because I love exercising and getting away from the screen. I enjoy finding leadership-type podcasts to listen to while going for a walk, bike ride, or just taking a break. I find them really helpful.

One trend that’s still interesting, especially in the tech and AI space, is the back-to-office movement. It’s still happening in the tech industry, but I believe companies that remain remote or hybrid will have the chance to tap into talent from all over the country, which I think is crucial.

One place that always inspires me is Lake Tahoe. It’s semi-local, only about 70 miles away, but it’s such a gem. I love biking and boating there, and no matter the season, you can’t have a bad day. Whether it’s winter or summer, it’s always a great time.

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